Go2Net Makes $5.3m, Acquires FreeYellow.com for $19.5m

Computergram International, Oct 29, 1999

Go2Net Inc, the Seattle, Washington-based community web site provider, has reported revenues of $9.8m for the quarter ended September 30 1999, up from $2.5m for the corresponding period last year. Net loss came to $10.7m, compared with $390,000 for Q3 1998. Daily page views reached 25.8 million in September, up from 18.5 million in June. During its third quarter, Go2Net acquired payment service Authorize.Net, meta search engine Dogpile LLC and most recently, registrar FreeYellow.com for $19.5m. It made a $20m investment in CommTouch Software Ltd, a $3m investment in click2learn.com and a license agreement with InterShop Communications Inc. The InterShop storefront software will be bundled with Authorize.Net's transaction processing gateway to offer Go2Net's users a one-stop e-commerce package.

As with all the dot coms, Go2Net spent a fortune on an offline brand advertising campaign this quarter. In particular, it bought video boards and other space in 13 major college football stadiums, and hired Mike Quigley as VP of marketing. Its own advertiser base grew to 452 from 223 this time last year, and it opened regional ad sales offices in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Dallas and Detroit. The Silicon Investor site was redesigned with charting and analytics from Go2Net's May 1999 acquisition, IQC.com. The company also launched its HyperMart Small Business Center to sell payroll services, time and expense tracking software, billing services, domain name registration, long distance and local telephone services and credit reports to the exploding small business sector.